1 . A spider was looking for a place to make a web (网). He wanted to live and relax there.

Soon, he found a corner and started making his web. A cat started laughing loudly after seeing him. The spider asked, “Why are you laughing?” The cat answered, “Because you’re so silly. Can’t you see how clean this place is? No insects (昆虫) will come here. Who will fall in your web?” After listening to the cat, the spider decided to look for another place to make a web.

Then he saw a window and started making his web there. A bird came and made fun of him, “Are you joking? A strong wind will make your web away. Hearing the bird’s words, the spider stopped making the web and started searching for another place.

But all the day passed quickly. He was too tired to make a web. A dog saw this and he went to the spider, “I have watched you since morning. You just listened to the others’ advice and didn’t think by yourself, so you didn’t finish your web.” After hearing the dog, the spider understood his problem.

2 . Once, some fish lived in a pool. One evening, some fishermen passed by the pool and saw the fish. “This pool is full of fish!” they told each other excitedly. “We must come back tomorrow morning and catch them!” they said.

When the oldest of the fish heard this, he was worried. He called the other fish together and said, “We must leave this pool at once. The fishermen will return tomorrow and kill us all.” The second oldest of the fish agreed. But the younger fish laughed. He said, “We have lived in this pool all our lives, and no fishermen have ever come here. I am not going anywhere. My luck will keep me safe.”

The oldest of the fish left the pool that evening. The second oldest of the fish saw the fishermen coming the next morning and left the pool at once. The younger fish didn’t want to leave even then. The fishermen caught and killed all the fish left in the pool.

The first fish that saw trouble ahead (预先) and acted before trouble arrived and the fish who acted as soon as trouble came both survived (幸存). But the fish that depended on luck and did nothing at all died. It is also the same in life.

3 . Have you seen the movie Marnie’s World? It tells a story about a clever and funny cat.

The orange cat Marnie lived a happy life, but it never left home. Marnie liked to watch TV shows. It knew the outside world through these shows. One day, the brother of Marnie’s owner (主人) took it out of the house. Then Marnie began its trip in the outside world. On the way, it made three good friends. The dog Elvis always spoke loudly. It looked unfriendly, but in fact it was kind. Anthony was a very stupid and funny donkey (驴). It wanted to be a big star one day. The rooster (公鸡) Eggbert was always afraid. They all looked strange. Later the police wanted to catch Marnie and its friends because they thought they were thieves (贼). Of course they weren’t.

How did Marnie save itself and its friends? Could Marnie finally catch the real thieves? Please go and watch the movie with your friends.

4 . Most people have heard of the Great Wall of China, but not many people outside of China know about the Grand Canal. This man-made waterway—known in China as Da Yunhe is 1, 700 kilometers long and some parts of it are more than 2, 000 years old. It links (连接) the north of China with Hangzhou, a city in the southern part of the country. It’s the longest man-made waterway in the world.

The Grand Canal was built as a way to transport grain (谷物) from the rich land in China’s south to cities in the north. In fact, it’s not one canal, but a system of canals and rivers linked together. It’s still an important part of the transport system in China. Thousands of boats use it every day to transport grain and many other types of things.

Now the Chinese government is doing new work on the Grand Canal. It is making parts of it deeper, so bigger ships can use it. The canal will also help to move water. There is a lot of rain in the south of China, but not as much in the north. The canal will carry millions of liters of water from the south to the north.

The Grand Canal is much less famous than the Great Wall so not very many tourists visit it. But it’s possible to go on a cruise (游船) along some of the oldest parts of the canal. Passengers on these cruises see beautiful parts of China that other visitors don’t see.

6 . One day, Tony walked into a restaurant and asked the waiter to offer him a light meal for dinner. Thirty minutes later, a group of three people came in.

To his surprise, the group took their food first. They laughed at Tony because Tony had to wait so long. Tony was unhappy and decided to leave. He told the waiter he didn’t want his food any more, but the waiter said, “The boss (老板) is preparing something special for you by himself. It’ll take more time.”

In fact, the boss was Tony’s old friend. They had long time no see. The boss wanted to give him a surprise, so the boss changed his light meal to a five-star meal for free. The three people were shocked (震惊的) and felt sorry for what they did before.

Some people may laugh at you and talk about how they’re better than you. Don’t worry! You have to wait patiently (耐心地) because yours must be special.

7 . The story happened in Japan two years ago. At that time, Mike and Ben were taking a holiday on the beach. The two good friends had a quarrel (吵架). Mike hit Ben on the face. Ben was hurt, but he said nothing. He only wrote in the sand, “Today my best friend hit me on the face.”

After that, they took a taxi back to their hotel. After dinner, Ben started to read in bed. Mike went for a walk in the park near the hotel. Suddenly, an earthquake happened. The small hotel fell down and Ben was under the hotel. Mike helped him out. After Ben was out of danger, he wrote on a stone (石头), “Today my best friend saved my life.”

Mike asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now you write it down on a stone. Why?” Ben answered, “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, and then the wind can blow it away. When someone helps us, we must write in the stone, then the wind can’t blow it away.”

8 . The start of a new year is a very wonderful time to take up something. Maybe that’s why so many people make New Year’s resolutions. People hope they’ll stop their bad habits and start good ones. However, a study shows that about 80% of people break their New Year’s resolutions before February. Why does this happen? That’s because they don’t make or keep their resolutions the right way. The following ideas may be helpful.

First, your resolutions should be specific (具体的). Don’t make a resolution like “I’m going to get healthy this year.” It doesn’t tell you what you need to do to become healthy. Make a specific one like “Get healthy by eating less and doing some running every morning.”

Second, just take it easy. It takes time to start a new habit. Never expect to reach your goals (目标) in just a few days or weeks.

Third, share your resolutions with others. Tell what your resolutions are to your family or close friends or join a group with the same goals as you. These people will help you to reach your goals when you want to give up (放弃).

9 . One day, I saw Harry sitting under a tree. He looked very sad. So I asked him what was wrong. “Nothing,” he said. “I’m too short to join the school basketball team.” “And our PE teacher thinks I have little hope to be in the team in half a year,” he added. “Why not join another team?” I asked. “But my dream is to be an excellent basketball player in the future,” he said. He told me his father wanted him to change his idea to join the school ping-pong team. “Good idea,” I agreed. “You’re sure to be excellent, because you have a smart head.” The next day, he joined the school ping-pong team. He worked harder than any other boy. Soon he was very popular in the team and looked happy every day. Last month, in the city’s middle school ping-pong match, he and his team won the championship (冠军).

Sometimes your dream may not come true. Then make a small change, and it will bring you another success.

Hello, I’m Lucy. During my stay in America, my friend Susan invited (邀请) me to have dinner in a restaurant. That was a funny experience for me. Now let me talk about it.

At first, my husband told me to take some money before I left, but I didn’t listen to him. I thought Susan would pay because she invited me to go.

The Americans like to be on time, so I arrived at the restaurant on time. We sat at a table and soon we began to enjoy ourselves there. The food was very delicious. We talked about our friends and shared the experiences about ourselves.

After two hours, the waiter came and asked whether we wanted one check (账单) or two. Susan said two. Susan paid her check, and the waiter gave me mine. I had no money. Then I had an idea and said, “Oh! I left my money at home! Can I call my husband?” The waiter showed me where the phone was. I ran to it and called my husband. In a few minutes, he arrived with some money. He laughed all the way home.